A draft new contract for hospital consultants, which will allow them to engage in some private practice in public hospitals, was presented to unions by health service management yesterday.
The contract is based on a 39- hour week and will be for consultants working in public hospitals. It will be the only basis on which new consultants will be recruited in future, management has said.
The proposed contract was presented when talks, which had been stalled since February, resumed with the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and the Irish Medical Organisation. The sides meet again on Wednesday.